This is the first in a series of interviews with candidates for mayor of San Diego in the Nov. 19 special election. Each of the leading contenders has been invited to meet with the U-T Editorial Board. Nathan Fletcher has not responded to four invitations. Kevin Faulconer, a Republican, has been a member of the San Diego City Council since 2006. The following is a condensed and edited transcript of the interview.

Q: Why do you want to be mayor and why should it be you?

A: I have a clear vision of what we need. And it’s based on my experience these last seven years with the City Council, being a part of turning this city around, bringing us out of the financial crisis and knowing what we still need to do. My focus since I’ve been on the council really has been on turning our city around, both financially and reputation-wise. We had to make a lot of tough decisions. When I think back to those days when I was first elected and we were “Enron by the sea,” we were frozen out of the capital markets. We had no certified annual financial reports. Our city was in crisis. It has reminded me over the last several months where we’ve been through another crisis with our mayor. So I came in after the resignation of a mayor and worked closely with my colleagues to turn our city around. I’m going to bring that type of style and experience and ability to work together to achieve real results. I’m going to focus on getting us back into the business of cutting government waste, particularly on managed competition. I’m going to focus on neighborhoods and infrastructure, something Bob Filner ignored with not moving forward with our planned infrastructure bond this year. I’m particularly going to focus on public safety and our police department and the real issue that we have with the recruitment and retention of police officers. When we look at what our city needs right now, I believe we need somebody with not just experience but also the ability to work together to move our city forward. We’ve had enough divisiveness, polarization. One of the strengths that I bring to the table is that demonstrated ability. And that’s what we need right now in San Diego.

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Q: What are those things we still need to do in terms of the financial stability of the city?

A: First, and foremost, we need to have a mayor who is committed to pension reform. We need to implement it every step of the way. We need to insure that the terms of Proposition B are enforced, enhanced. I worked very hard on the managed-competition issue, putting that to voters. Voters overwhelmingly supported that program. And we just scratched the surface under Mayor Jerry Sanders. When he left office there were five managed competitions that were on his desk, almost ready to go. As we sit here, those same five have still not been implemented. And by a conservative estimate, that’s $20 million that we’re not moving forward with. You know it’s a program that works. Our employee groups have won all the competitions to date. And that’s fine. We have great city employees. We need to unleash their potential to save these dollars. And yet Bob Filner said no to that program. It has to be initiated from the mayor’s office. When I get in there we will initiate not only those five, but we will continue to move forward on the rest of them.

Q: OK it’s Nov. 20, you’ve won the election without the need for a runoff. What’s your first priority?

A: Several. Absolutely, from a financial standpoint, moving forward on managed competition, saving those tax dollars and the bureaucracy, moving forward on the audits. Secondly, getting us back into the infrastructure business, with street repair first and foremost. And, third, focusing on our police department, retaining and recruiting the best and brightest men and women for our police force.

Q: One of the things that has obviously been important to this city is keeping the Chargers in San Diego and to do that clearly we’ll need a new stadium. What is your view of how that can be done and where it should go?

A: We have a real opportunity to make that a reality. And as the next Mayor I’m confident that we will be able to make that work. We have to make sure it’s a good deal for taxpayers, first and foremost, and that will be my guiding principal as we work together as a community with the Chargers to try to accomplish it. The Chargers are a huge San Diego asset. But as somebody who has spent his time on the council making sure that we are fiscally responsible, I’m going to continually do that as we work with the Chargers to find a solution and a solution, one they’ve already said that they intend to take to the voters to allow them to help make a decision on this. I think that’s the right approach. I think all sites should be a possibility.

Q: Is it a regional issue?

A: It’s absolutely a regional issue. The Chargers are a regional asset. You look at the pride that we have as San Diegans in the Chargers, it’s not just people in the city of San Diego. It’s people throughout the other areas. We need them to stay here. That will be one of my goals.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your leadership style. How do you like to work?

A: It’s an inclusive one. And you have to be inclusive to be successful. It can’t be based on partisanship, because then you’re going to be locked into arguments and debates that don’t move the city forward. Working together to achieve common goals is not a bad thing. It’s a good thing. And I think we need more of that in the city of San Diego. That’s what I’ve done since I’ve been on the council. That’s what I’m going to continue to do as mayor. I have strong views and beliefs. And I stand up for those. And I also recognize that to achieve those I have to convince some of my colleagues sometimes to do that, and I will. But you have to bring people along and show them the benefits. Divisiveness has proved not to work in the city and we saw that, particularly in the last nine months.

Q: As a political matter what do you consider your strengths and weaknesses in this campaign?

A: My strength is my experience and inclusiveness and how I want to move our city forward to heal. As for my weaknesses, I’m not as well known, but that’s part of the campaign. That’s why you get your name out. I think as people get to know the candidates, get to know me, get to know what I’ve done, I’m confident that I can win or else I wouldn’t have thrown my hat in. I think my experience, my style of leadership, fits very well with what the city needs right now.

Q: One of the few things that Mayor Filner started doing that we supported was the budding movement to lure the Olympic Games to San Diego. Is that something you would continue either jointly with Tijuana or....

A: I think our best opportunity is to have it here in the city of San Diego, as we saw from some of the challenges in the Olympic Charter. There is a strong and growing movement for that. It’s not going to happen overnight. And it won’t happen in the next Olympics. But when I look to civic leaders like Vince Mudd who are vested in this 100 percent, I’ve told him you can count on my support as mayor. That’s a long-term haul. We have a world-class city. We’ve shown that we can host Super Bowls. We can host America’s Cup. That is something I’m very interested in, to show off San Diego to the world.

Q: San Diego, historically, has elected Republican mayors. We’ve had a few Democrats — Maureen O’Connor, Frank Curran — but they were not Democrats in the true liberal sense of a Bob Filner. In the last election, we saw this big sea change of the electorate, with a big rally among south-of-8 voters that brought Bob into office. How do you reach that section of the population?

A: For me to be successful I have to appeal to all San Diegans. And that’s exactly what I am going to do. I’m going to talk about how I’ve worked with my colleagues, my inclusive style of leadership, my results-oriented approach. I need to demonstrate that to the entire city — our neighborhoods in the south, our neighborhoods in the north — that my focus is going to be getting San Diegans back on track. And I think that’s going to be a message that will resonate no matter what neighborhood you live in: that you’re going to have pride in your city government, that your tax dollars are going to be utilized wisely, and that we’re going to reinvest those dollars and those savings we have to improve our neighborhoods. I think you’re going to see that is a message that is going to be very compelling in any neighborhood of the city. I’m looking forward to telling my story of success, my ability to be inclusive, to San Diegans across the city. I think it’s a message that is going to resonate. I know where we need to go. I’m excited about the opportunity. It’s not going to be easy. I go into it with eyes wide open, but a clear sense of purpose on getting our city back on track. And I believe that’s going to define this campaign and will allow me to be successful.